The BBC grandee attacked the process that saw the Tory donor given the top job without disclosing to MPs he had facilitated discussions which led to an £800,000 loan guarantee for Boris Johnson.
"I don't think his appointment should stand," Lord Birt told MPs on the culture committee. "He is a person of obvious weight and consequence, but in one vital respect he was an unsuitable candidate and the appointment process itself was fatally flawed."
The public appointments commission is investigating whether rules were followed in giving the job to Mr Sharp after he failed to share with MPs details of his involvement in initial talks about the offer of a credit line for Mr Johnson when he was at No 10.
The culture committee branded Mr Sharp guilty of "significant errors of judgement" by failing to declare his role in facilitating talks about the loan at the end of 2020 before he was named BBC chair in February 2021.
Lord Birt, director general of the BBC between 1992 and 2000, singled out cabinet secretary Simon Case for criticism over the scandal, telling the committee he had made "a grave error" in letting the appointment proceed.
This story is from the March 29, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the March 29, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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